evans



(N-o Model.)

J. W. EVANS.

COMBINED EIEE ESCAPE LADDER AND VENTILATING ELUE.

No. 811,239. Patented Jan. 27,1885l IE7/vena? ,jagd

N. PETERS. Phmvumugmp:

IINTTa STnTns PATENT Ordnen..

JAMES YV. EVANS, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO BENJAMIN S. CLARK, OF SAME PLAGE.

COMBINED FIRE-ESCAPE LADDER AND VENTlLATiNG-FLUE.

fIJZECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,239, dated January 2'7, 1885.

Application iiled March 29, 1853.

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, .latins W. Evans, of the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Fire-Escape Ladder and Ventilating-Flue; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to provide houses, factories, and other buildings with neat, cheap, and strong fire-escape ladders free from all objectionable features in devices heretofore used for said purposes, having a neat appearance when applied to the fronts or any other parts of buildings, and precluding the possibility of their use for gaining access to the building from the outside, or for storing rubbish when not in use as a re-escape, at the same time serving the purposes of a Ventilating-due from the several iioors and rooms to which it is applied.

To enable those skilled in the art to comprehend and construct my invention, I will describe it more fully by reference to the drawings, on which similar letters indicate like parts of the invention, as seen from different views. l

Figure l is a front elevation ofahouse with my improved combined fire-escape ladderand Ventilating-Hue applied. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the saine, showing the ladder open as used for nre-escape. Fig. 3 is avertical section showing the ladder closed to the building and used as a ventilatingiiue. Fig. 4 represents an enlarged cross-section of the ladder. i

The ladder A is made by bending up the 4o two edges of thick sheet-iron, as shown in Fig. 4, the rounds c c ehaving their ends pass through and riveted in said edges or flanges,

so formed by turning said edges of sheet-iron up. Any number of sheetsniay be riveted together to produce the desired length. The ladder is made in two sections, A and B, which two parts are hinged together, as seen at-d d, Figs. 2 and 3. The section B has its lower end hinged and secured to the (No model.)

building, as seen at D D. A cord or rope, g 5o g g, is secured to the upper end of the ladder, and passed throughan opening in the wall of the building and over a pulley, h, thence down through the several rooms and floors to the lower iioor, where its end may be drawn down and secured to a fastening, as'seen in Fig. 3, thereby closing the ladder against the wall of the building, the edges or nanges of the ladder fitting to the wall, forming a continuous iiue from the bottointo the top of the 6o building. To utilize this flue I forln openings E E E in the walls of the several roorns,eith'er at the tops or at the bottoms, which openings lead in said flue or ladder, all such ventilating-openings being provided with registers, as shown by dotted lines at S S S, Fig. l. An opening, H, is made in the upper end of the fine to permit the air to pass out freely.

YI also secure handles a L a to the wall at the sides of the windows, as seen in Figs. l and 7o 2, and extend the window-sills, if desired, to facilitate the passage from the windows to the ladder. I also secure wheels or pulleys F F to the wall at the top and bottom of the ladder,over which I pass an endless rope, ahook, N, secured to said rope, by which baggage, children, or invalids may belet down. Then the ladder is closed,the said pulleys and endless rope are protected and closed from View, as shown by the dotted lines in Figs. l and 3, 8o in which position the ladder is held by the rope g. TWhen secured to the fastening I,the said rope may be provided with snap-hooks or any ot' the well-known means of connecting ropes and belts on each floor, so that per-` sons not provided with means to cut the rope may disconnect it by hand. Vhen the rope is so cut or disconnected, the ladder falls of its own gravitation to the position shown in Fig. 2, in which position it is held by the 9o chainsfff, one end of which is secured to the ladder and the other to the wall byV any of the wellknown means.

It will be seen that the least possible time, labor, or intelligence is required from the person to put the ladder in position in order to escape. It is also well-known that such escape becomes necessary often at short notice,

When persons have no time to properly clothe the joints D and d, chains ff Af, and rope g,

or prepare to go down the ladders or escapes substantially as described, and for the purpose now in use Without undesirable exposure to specified.

the crowds below. 2. The ladder A, constructed to form also I5 5 With my improved lire-escape the person a flue, in combination with the ventilators E passing down is protected from the View of E E, substantially as described, and for the the greater part of the crowd below. purpose specified- Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure J AMES WV. EVANS. by Letters Patent, is- Vitnesses: 1o l. The .ladder constructed of sheet niet-al A, (EI-Ins. R. CLARKE,

inclosing the rounds e, in combination with NATHAN LEVENsoN. 

